17 Common Worship Leading Mistakes

1. Including too many new songs in the set – Your congregation is there to worship – most will find it difficult to do so if they spend most of the time learning your latest masterpieces. Vary your set list to include a variety of older, recently introduced, and brand new songs and be ready to make changes on the fly if you sense your congregation is becoming weary.

2. Pitching the songs too high – remember that a comfortable range for a woman is about five semitones (half steps) lower than for a man. Change the key down to avoid going above top D, particularly if you are playing in a small church situation.

3. Clunky moving from song to song. Playing a song once its underway is fairly straightforward so make sure you concentrate on rehearsing how to start and end a song. Practicing a seamless flow from one song to the next is worthwhile to focus on. It will help if both are in the same key with a similar groove, and if you are using music, make sure the sheets are side by side on your music stand.

4. Poor band dynamics – conflicting rhythms, one instrument speeding up/slowing down, vocalists overwhelming the sound with too many ad-libs or vibrato. Exercise leadership in directing your singers clearly, and if necessary, get them some vocals training. Get them to listen to each other's parts and possibly film or record a service to help with some constructive criticism.

5. Lack of leadership – Without clear guidance from the worship leader, it's difficult for the band to know what they are meant to do, let alone the congregation. Give a good clear brief in practice and use vocal cues and body language to communicate during the set.

6. Overly complex vocals – congregations get easily confused when the lead vocalist slips into harmonies, trills, and ad-libs. Simple clear melody is always the easiest to follow. Leave the harmonies for the backing vocalists.

7. Poor phrasing and blending by vocalists. Make sure that all your singers are phrasing each “musical sentence” in the same way. It can help to have one backing vocalist leading the others so that everyone finishes their words at the same time. In the studio, singers are often asked not to finish the last consonant in a line so that the ending doesn’t sound jagged.

8. Wrong keys or wrong capo positions. Make sure all the band are playing in the same key. Issue your set list in advance with instructions for keys. And if you change your mind, make sure that everyone knows.

9. Tuning – are all your instruments in tune and are they staying in tune throughout the set? Even the right notes out of tune sound far worse than the wrong notes in tune so buy yourself a decent tuner like the Boss TU2 – cheap tuners can be so frustrating.

10. Lack of rhythm and togetherness by the band – this can be caused by many things including poor musicianship and lack of overall direction. Try to generate a sense of team where everyone plays their part to contribute to the whole without any one musician standing out. Also, ensure that you have the relevant instruments in your foldback – i.e. the kick drum and other instruments responsible for rhythm.

11. Winging it – either the result of poor preparation or trying something new out on the spot. Be sure you can accomplish what you have in mind. Are you trying to sing a song without the lyrics in front of you, and you’ve forgotten the words? Does your AV guy have the words for the congregation, or do they have to remember them, too? Do you and the rest of the band know all the chords you need?

12. Technical problems. The sound gremlins can happen to the best of us but try to get there early, set up methodically, and make sure your technicians are well trained in the system they are using.

13. Problems with pitch – You’re starting a new song, and you’ve suddenly realised you’ve started on completely the wrong note.
Try to identify the problem songs in advance and quietly play the note you need to hit on your instrument. Hold the note in your head while playing the intro and then hit it with confidence. Alternatively ask one of the other (confident) vocalists to lead on that song.

14. Over emphasis on the melody line. Make sure your backing vocalists and single melody instruments are playing harmonies. The lead vocalist and congregation are all on the melody line – create some contrast.

15. Worship crash – often caused by trying something complicated that hasn’t been practiced enough. Never try anything complicated until you, the band. and the congregation are really familiar with the song.

16. Starting the song in the wrong tempo. Either invest in an in ear click or sing the song through in your head first so that you can pace the tempo properly. Generally, the chorus is the fastest part of the song.
 
17. Audiovisual failure – This happened to Matt Redman one time when Andy was playing. Matt just shifted his set list to songs with simple lyrics and gave spoken vocal cues to the congregation at junction points in the song. 

Creating A Flow In Worship

One of the biggest challenges that worship leaders face is the ability to put together set lists for a worship service that provides a non-distracting experience for congregants. It’s easy to get into a rut or routine that seems to “get the job done,” but doesn’t inspire passion, creativity or a real sense of encounter.

The first step to creating a flow in worship is prayer. Now, I just heard everyone reading this column experience an “I could have had a V-8” moment. But seriously, one of the fundamental keys for worship leaders who are successful in facilitating “God moments” through their leadership is a basic understanding that worship and prayer are interconnected. I would suggest that worship is our prayers set to music, and worship songs are sung prayers. I think of the songs as prayer requests.

Some questions you need to ask

1. What life circumstances are dominating the conversations of people in your congregation? If you have a number of families losing their homes due to the recession, it may not be appropriate to sing a happy song.

Most worship leaders do not know how to effectively connect the musical part of the service with the lives of the people they are leading. The focus is on providing an “experience” instead of facilitating an “encounter.”

That is the difference between entertainment and ministry. Entertainment wants everyone to have a particular “experience” that is programmed for effect. Ministry is focused on people having a transformational “encounter” with God.

2. What message is consistent with the season of life for your congregation? New churches are filled with excitement, but older churches may be concerned about commitment. Young believers are trying to sort out if their faith is real. Seasoned saints are dealing with trying to recapture the excitement of the past. What is the overall message or “prayer” that captures the heartbeat of the congregation you are connected to?

The message in your song selection needs to fit the season of life your congregation is in. One of the biggest sources of frustration occurs when someone wants to change “the style” to appeal to a younger audience, and in doing so ignores the message. People don’t relate and they begin complaining.

3. What scriptures are being taught? There are some that believe that the pastor must stay in his or her lane and the worship leader must stay in his or her lane and never shall the two meet. In fact it’s almost a bragging point to say, “Wow, the worship and the message really flowed together this morning. I know the pastor and worship leader never talk, so that was really the Lord!” No, it was an accident.

Worship is an art form that gives voice to the Word of God. Our song selection should reflect the scriptures that the people are being taught through sermons or Bible studies.

4. What is happening inside of you? We forget that we are worshippers before we are worship leaders. If something doesn’t impact our lives personally, then how can we expect others to be impacted by it? I don’t use songs that I personally don’t connect with. It’s important that I not only believe in what I’m singing or “praying” to God, but that I’m also believable to others.

In our next issue we will discuss the relationship between keys and tempo in creating set lists that flow in worship.

Worship Team Training Podcast - Episode 36 & 37

Here is an episode of Worship Team Training that I did with Shanon Wexelberg...

PODCAST CLICK HERE

Here is an episode of Worship Team Training that I did with Andy Park...

PODCAST CLICK HERE

What Is Congregational Worship [Article Reprint]

Congregational worship is more than just a group of individuals having quiet times in the same place. It is the Body of Christ gathered together in unity and diversity centering adoration on the King of kings and Lord of lords and responding in obedience to Him. The emphasis is not on "my personal experience," but "our obedient response" to His revealed nature and character.

To understand where all of this started, I must go back to an email from Eric Benoy, our librarian at the Seminary, who really helped me begin to start thinking about “congregational worship.”

We gather together for corporate worship; a group of people to do something in one accord. If that is the case, then why do some worship leaders today want to make corporate worship a personal experience? It is oxymoronic in a way. If we have gathered intentionally for corporate worship, then should we not then be striving for a corporate offering of praise, adoration, et al and hear from God as a body of believers? We have come together specifically to be the church gathered; to worship and become equipped to be the church scattered. [4/16/2010, used by permission]

Besides being our librarian, and a fine one at that, Eric is a pastor and a dear godly friend whose opinion is worth the time to ponder. I’m not sure I had spent much time thinking about the efforts being made to make “corporate worship” a “personal experience,” but the more I began to mull over the idea in my mind, the more I began to see some of the possible ramifications of the idea.

Biblical worship is God-centered. Scripture describes it as “in Him, through Him, by Him, to Him, and about Him,” that is, the focus of worship is Christ, not our tastes, style, opinions, etc. If we look at the Isaiah 6 model, as God takes the initiative and reveals Himself, the prophet not only sees the revealed nature of God, but sees himself as God sees him, sinful and unclean. He confesses and is forgiven and the prophet is able to hear God’s voice: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” Worship then completes itself in obedient response as Isaiah responds, “Here am I, Lord, send me!”

How does all that fit into a congregational setting? A great question. The idea of the “congregation” is in reference to the “church,” not the church building, but the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ. This body, whose Head is Christ, Himself, is seen in worship in the book of Revelation as thousands upon thousands are gathered around the Lamb on His throne. He is the one central and only focus. Angelic beings circle around Him declaring His nature and glory, hallowed saints cast their crowns toward the One who is worthy. If we could look around at the worshipers in heaven, we would notice that it is multi-generational worship: Not only are there throngs of believers from all the ages, generation after generation, but old and young. It is also multi-cultural worship: tribes from every tongue and nation lifting praise and adoration to God.

In Acts 2:42 we read that “They were devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” [NET] There may be discussion as to what exactly is meant by each of these four activities, but central to each is the fact that they were done corporately. Paul deals with the abuses of the agape feast and the Lord’s Supper in I Corinthians 11, emphasizing the need for self examination, so that when they came together they would not be condemned. It is not by accident that he then deals with spiritual gifts and explains that they are each members of Christ’s body, each with different gifts for the building of the body. In I Corinthians 14, Paul deals with the fact that worship was participatory: “When you come together, each one has a song, has a lesson, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all these things be done for the strengthening of the church.” [14:26 NET] The focus was not on building up the individual participating, but the body as a whole.

A simple focus on the pronouns in the Model Prayer that Jesus left us in Matthew 6:9-13 will also help us see that the corporate emphasis: This, then, is how you should pray:

‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. [bold type added]

It may be that because we live in a culture that prizes individualism we look at Scripture with “individualistic” lenses. While it is true that we come to Christ as individuals, our “cultural lenses” may filter the importance of seeing ourselves as the Body with Christ as its Head and as the Bride preparing herself for the Bridegroom. Though we are aware that this theme is central to the New Testament idea of the church, what implications are there to worship? Where does the church “see” itself as a the “Body of Christ” and not just a group of individuals? Is it not as believers gather for worship and join together unifying their focus on the Risen Lord?

Seeing ourselves as the Body of Christ is not to demean personal experience, but a help to guard against allowing our focus to shift to “our” personal experience rather than on who Christ is and what He as done. If we are not careful the desire to achieve a “personal” worship experience becomes a goal in and of itself and misses the object for which the worship should have been directed. We can begin to desire the “experience” more than the “Savior.” Brian Wren put it this way in book, Praying Twice: The Music and Words of Congregational Song:

Oh, I’m thinking of me praising Jesus, and loving the feeling I feel. When I think of his touch I am feeling so much that tomorrow I’ll praise him for real. [page 225]

Corporate worship can help us avoid the “me and mine” mentality and can help us see ourselves as Christ sees us. Being mindful that we are part of the Body can also help us avoid delusions of our own importance before God. This is especially needful for those who are in positions of leadership in worship; it is just too easy to fall into the trap of self engrandizement. When our focus is on worshiping as the Body of Christ, we are less likely to define our worship experience by the limited standards of our own experience. Personal preference is surrendered for the good of the whole.

What is the role of personal experience? The responsibility of every believer is to maintain a right relationship with the Father, to confess known sin, receive forgiveness and continue to grow and deepen the relationship. As we come together in worship, we then come prepared to meet with Him who loved us enough to die to restore the relationship that He knew we so desperately needed. We come together as members of the Body of Christ, different in gifts and abilities, but all functioning for the good of the Body. As we worship, we reflect the “unity in diversity” that is His body.

In corporate worship can we see the unity of focusing everything on Christ. In the same way that a wheel is recognizable as a wheel when each of its spokes is rightly related to the hub, so the members of the Body are recognizable when rightly related to Christ. Just as a wheel is more than a collection of spokes hub and rims, corporate worship is more than a group of believers in the same room at the same time.

So now what? What difference does all this mean in relation to what should happen on Sunday morning as we gather together? Glad you asked. For a start, let’s consider the following:

1. We must teach what biblical worship is and isn’t. There are still many people that believe that “the music is the worship...”
2. Personal worship is indispensable. We must feed daily on God’s Word; we must immerse ourselves in His presence in prayer. There are no substitutes for personal time with the Father.
3. Personal worship is not a substitute for corporate worship. We are baptized into the Body of Christ and are members of His body. There is no biblical idea of a member of the body existing apart from the body.
4. Corporate worship must facilitate worship that centers itself around Jesus Christ as His Body. The focus of corporate worship is not a focus on personal experience.
5. We must begin to learn what it means to live and worship as the Body of Christ. Personal preference is willingly subjugated for the good of the whole body

Ed Steele, a 20-year veteran as a music missionary with the SBC International Mission Board, is Associate Professor of Music at the Leavell College of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. His blog, Worship HeartCries, weekly encouragements and insights into biblical worship, can be found at www.edsteeleworship.com